Polystachya foliosa (Lindl.) Rchb. f. 1863 SECTION Polystachya
Photo by © Pieter C. Brouwer
Photo by Noble Bashor
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Common Name The Leafy Polystachya
Flower Size 1/8" [5 mm]
Found in Mexico, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leewards, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, Windwards, Fr Guiana, Surinam, Guyana, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Argentina as a miniature to small sized, hot to cool growing, caespitose epiphyte on small trees in the canopy on larger branches , or terrestrial, in wet, semideciduous montane rain forests, at elevations of 0 to 2000 meters and is plentiful with a tapered pseudobulb subtended by foliaceous, imbricating sheaths with 3, narrowly oblong to oblanceolate, acute leaves that blooms in the spring, fall and winter on a erect, 2" [5 cm] long, terminal, simple to few branched, densely flowered, paniculate inflorescence arising on a mature, ovoid pseudobulb, concealed by 3 to 4 linear-lanceolate leaves as long as the leaf with several, non-resupinate flowers.
Synonyms Dendrorchis caracasana (Rchb. f.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrorchis cerea (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrorchis clavata (Lindl.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrorchis foliosa (Rchb. f.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrorchis minor Fawc. & Rendle 1910; Dendrorchis nana (Poepp. & Endl.) Kuntze 1891; Dendrorchis paulensis (Rchb.f.) Kuntze 1891; Encyclia nana Poepp. & Endl. 1836; Encyclia polystachya Poepp. & Endl. 1837-8; Polystachya abbreviata Rchb.f. 1874; Polystachya altilamellata Schltr. 1912; Polystachya amazonica Schltr. 1930; Polystachya caracasana Rchb. f. 1854; Polystachya cerea Lindl. 1840; Polystachya cingulata Rchb.f. ex Kraenzl. 1926; Polystachya clavata Lindl. 1842; Polystachya costaricensis Schltr. 1923; Polystachya ecuadorensis Schltr. 1921; Polystachya edwallii Hoehne & Schltr. 1926; Polystachya fariae Campacci 2010; Polystachya foliosa var. triandra Sauleda & R.M.Adams 1979; Polystachya guatemalensis Schltr. 1921; Polystachya huebneri Schltr. 1925; Polystachya micrantha Schltr. 1925; Polystachya minor Fawc. & Rendle 1910; Polystachya nana (Poepp. & Endl.) Rchb. f. 1853; Polystachya nana (Poepp. & Endl.) Rchb.f. 1863; Polystachya panamensis Schltr. 1922; Polystachya paulensis Rchb.f. 1863 ; Polystachya peruviana C.Nelson 1998; Polystachya poeppigii Schltr. 1921; Polystachya powellii Ames 1924; Polystachya rupicola Brade 1951; Polystachya weigeltii Rchb. f. 1852; *Stelis foliosa Lindl. 1839
References W3 Tropicos, Kew Monocot list , IPNI ; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1853 as P caracasana; Bonplandia Rchb.f 1856 as P caracasana; Flora of Jamaica Fawcett & Rendle 1910 as P minor drawing good; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten II Colombia Schlechter 1920 as P colombiana; Die Orchideen der Sudamerikanischen Kordillerenstaaten III Ecuador Schlechter 1921 as P ecuadorense; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 17: 49. Panama Schlechter 1922; Repert. Sp. Nov. Regni. Veg. Beih. 19: 223. Costa Rica Schlechter 1923 as P costaricense; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909; Symbolae Antillanae Vol VI Orchidaceae Urban 1909 as P minor; The Orchids of Panama L.O. Williams & P Allen 1946 as P cerea; Orchid Lore summer 1947 as P luteola; AOS Bulletin Vol 27 No 6 1958 as P cerea; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 1 Dunsterville & Garay 1959 as P caracasana drawing good; Native Orchids of Trinidad Schultes 1960; AOS Bulletin Vol 36 #9 1967 as P carcasana AOS Bulletin Vol 38 No 6 1969 as P caracasana; Flora de Venezuela Volumen 15 Parte 3 Foldats 1970 drawing fide; Flora of the Lesser Antilles Garay & Sweet 1974 drawing fide; Las Orquedias De El Salvador Vol 2 Hamer 1974 drawing fide/photo fide; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as P micrantha drawing ok; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 1 Pabst & Dungs 1975 as P rupicola drawing ok; Venezuelan Orchids Illustrated Vol 6 Dunsterville & Garay 1976 as P amazonica drawing good; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 2 Pabst & Dungs 1977 as P amazonica drawing good; Orchidaceae Brasilenses Band 2 Pabst & Dungs 1977 drawing fide; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 as P amazonica drawing good; Orchids of Venezuela, An Illustrated Field Guide Vol 3 Dunsterville & Garay 1979 drawing ok; The Complete Writings on Philippine Orchids Vol 1 Quisumbing 1981; Orchids of Venezuela, Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1133 Hamer 1984 drawing ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Dodson plate 1258 1985 as Polystachya clavata drawing ok; Flora Novo-Galaciana Vol 16 Orchidaceae Mc Vaugh 1985 as Polystachya cerea; The Orchids of Surinam Werkhoven 1986 photo ok; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Series II Orchids of Peru Plate 0160 Dodson & Bennett 1989 as P nana drawing ok; Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 23 1393 - 1456 Brieger 1990 drawing fide; Die Orchideen Band 1B lieferung 23 1393 - 1456 Brieger 1990 as P amazonica; Icones Planetarum Tropicarum Plate 1485 Mora & Atwood 1992 drawing fide; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 169 Bennett & Christenson 1993 drawing fide; The Plants of Mount Kinabalu Vol 2 Orchids Beaman, Wood, Beaman & Beaman 1993; An Orchid Flora of Peurto Rico and the Virgin Islands Ackerman 1995 drawing fide; Guatemala Y Sus Orquideas Behar & Tinschert 1998 photo fide; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 as P amazonica drawing good; Orchids of Venezuela [An illustrated field guide] Vol. 3 Ramiro and Carnevali 2000 drawing good; Orchidaceae Antillanae Nir 2000; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001 as P clavataa; Harvard Pap. Bot. 5 #2: Carnevali etal. 2001; Icones Orchidacearum Peruviarum Plate 746 Bennett & Christenson 2001 as Polystachya altilamellata drawing fide; Moscosoa 13:116 2002 photo fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003 as P amazonica; Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica Vol 3 Hammel, Grayum, Herrera and Zamora 2003 drawing fide; Flora of the Venezuelan Guayana Vol 7 Steyermark, Berry, Yatskievych and Holst 2003; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 as P amazonica photo fide; Native Ecuadorian Orchids Vol 4 Dodson 2003 drawing/photo fide; Orchids of The Brazilian Central Plateau Menezes 2004 photo ok; The Orchids of Bolivia Vol II Laelinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2004; The Orchids of Bolivia Vol II Laelinae Vasquez & Ibisch 2004 as P nana; The Orchids of Cuba Llamacho & Larramendi 2005 photo fide; Orquideas de la Serrania del Baudo Misas Urreta 2006 drawing/photo fide; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide as P peruviana; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide p amazonica; Orchid Species of Peru Zelenko & Bermudez 2009 photo fide; Orchids of Costa Rica Vol 2 Morales 2009 photo ok; An Illustrated Field Guide to the Orchids of the Yotoco Forest Reserve Colombia Kolanowska, Escobar, Sanchez & Szlachetko 2011 drawing/photo fide; Algunas Orquideas De Mexico Tomo 1 Suarez 2012 as P cerea photo fide; Guia de Orquideas de Chiapas Carlos Rommel Beutelspacher Baigts 2013 as P cerea photo ok; Lankesteriana Vol 18 [1]: 23–62 Jalal & Jayanth 2018; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as P cerea; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 sa P clavata; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018 as P guatemalensis; Orchid Genera and Species in Guatemala Archila, Szlachchetko, Chiron, Lipinska, Mystkowska and Bertolini 2018; LANKESTERIANA 19(2).125 - 193 Ossenbach & Jenny 2019 collection sheet fide; Vanishing Beauty, Native Costa Rican Orchids Vol 2 Lacaena to Pteroglossa Pupulin 2020 photo fide
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